[Empathic Transcendence]
﹂Progress: 10% → 12%
His control over the skill had increased. Read latest stories on My Virtual Library Empire
However, activating it still felt like trying to hold onto an impossibly slippery bar of soap.
Neo massaged his brows.
“Space will help me talk with other Elementals.
“Does that mean they will ask the other Elementals to listen to me?”
He frowned.
“Would the other Elementals even follow Space’s words?”
The Space Elementals seemed quite intelligent.
Unlike Air, who only knew how to prank, and Water, who was lazier than a sloth, Space was mature and willing to talk.
“If it’s so desperate to ask for my help, its Loved One must be in huge danger.”
While he was drowned in thoughts, he sensed someone entering the deck.
“I hope I’m not disturbing you,” Olivia said.
“It’s fine. I was only looking around,” Neo replied, turning to face her.
His gaze flickered toward the horizon, where the sea churned unnaturally. “Seems like we are about to reach the Shift Point.”
“That’s good news. The faster we reach our location, the faster we can complete our mission.”
She stepped beside him, resting her hands on the railings as she watched the distance.
Despite her calm and mature demeanor, a trace of anxiety flashed in her eyes, and she gripped the rails tightly, her knuckles turning white.
Neo tried to ignore it.
However, her actions made him irritated.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Pardon? I don’t understand your question,” Olivia replied, trying to hide her anxiousness.
“Why are you worried?” Neo asked again.
Olivia opened her mouth, instinctively wanting to dismiss the question.
However, she stopped when she noticed the maturity behind Neo’s gaze.
It was unnatural for a child his age.
Exalted. Heir of the Underworld.
Both positions sounded grand, but they weren’t easy to reach or handle.
Out of trillions, only a single Demigod reached Exalted every three hundred years.
That fact alone spoke volumes about the difficulty of the path.
And the Underworld…
Even Exalted Demigods hesitated to set foot in that wretched place.
Yet Neo, an Immortal, must have visited it multiple times.
It was no wonder he was far more mature than he should be.
Sighing, Olivia decided to be honest.
“How is Leonora?” she asked softly.
Neo’s expression remained unreadable.
“The affairs of the dead aren’t allowed to be revealed.”
“I see…”
A trace of sadness flickered in Olivia’s eyes.
She smiled ruefully, lowering her head as she tried to suppress the tears threatening to appear.
Her shoulders tensed.
Neo observed her in silence.
“Why didn’t you try to revive her?” he asked suddenly. “The Time Mages of your Clan could’ve saved Leonora.”
He already knew the answer.
But he asked anyway.
Sometimes, people needed a reason to release what they had buried deep inside.
And it wouldn’t do him any good if his mission partner’s mental state was in tatters.
An unreliable ally was worse than a competent enemy.
“I suppose it’s fine to tell you,” Olivia said, inhaling deeply to compose herself.
She exhaled slowly, gathering her bearings.
“Our Clan received a vision of the future. Of a war. It devoured everything. Nothing was spared. The God Clans fell. The Demigods were slaughtered.”
Her fingers trembled as she clenched them into a fist.
“It was a horrific sight.”
She lifted a hand to cover her eye as if the memory was refusing to disappear.
“That must be the Blood Sea War,” Neo said.
“Maybe it was. We still haven’t found many answers. All that the vision showed us was no one will survive. Not me, not my family, not a single person.”
The air around them felt heavier.
The distant wails of the Blood Sea rose and fell, mingling with eerie bubbling of Blood Sea.
Olivia’s grip on the railing tightened.
“And?”
“Th-that…”
Olivia choked up.
A storm of emotions flashed across her face—grief, regret, guilt.
She clenched her jaw, trying to suppress the tremble in her voice.
“We became afraid. The God Clans searched franticly. They decided to eliminate anything that could threaten the future. But the vision did not change.
“That’s why… That’s why….”
She struggled to speak, knowing what they – she – had done.
“We let Leonora die. The Underworld is safe, much safer than the world of the living.
“The Monarch of Death, the strongest God, lives there.
“No beast and no monster can harm that place.
“If Leonora could secure a foothold there – before billions arrived in the Underworld after dying in the war and the lands of dead turned more chaotic – she could live peacefully as a respected figure.
“She would be safe there,” Olivia said.
Neo leaned against the railing.
“Is that why you bribed the Grim Reapers?” he chuckled. “No wonder they gave her a breathing Spell.”
Giving a breathing Spell to a Soul Hunter was entirely within a Grim Reaper’s jurisdiction.
They were allowed to choose their successors and could favor anyone.
Olivia remained silent.
Her mind was filled with worries.
Was her daughter eating well?
Had she adjusted to the harsh environment of the Underworld?
Even if it was for her future safety, was it truly okay to let her stay in the Underworld, when even Exalted Demigods feared that place?
The Templars from the Temple of Death had reassured her that the rumors of the Underworld was overexaggerated.
That it was not as bad as everyone made it out to be.
However, Olivia could not help but worry.
This plan was dangerous.
That was why they had never tried to send Leonora to the Underworld before.
It was only when Leonora unexpectedly died that they decided to follow through it.
“Leonora wouldn’t want you to cry like that,” Neo said.
Olivia might be an Exalted Demigod, but she was a mother too.
She and her husband had always doted on their only daughter.
Just the thought of Leonora being in the Underworld made them feel as if their hearts were being ripped apart.
Neo remained silent.
He let Olivia reel in her emotions.
While the two stood in silence, Neo sensed the Space Elementals growing in numbers.
The silvery motes of light flickered around him, drifting like fireflies in the dim air.
The doors to the deck creaked open, and Percival and Nicolas entered.
Olivia quickly wiped her tears before they could see her distress.
“We are near the Shift Point,” Percival said, as he surveyed their surroundings.
Suddenly, the wails coming from the Blood Sea disappeared—along with gravity.
The ship plummeted.
For a split second, it was as if they had been airborne all along, and now falling from the sky.
Then, with a deafening splash, the ship crashed back into the Blood Sea.
The entire process took less than a second.
It sent a sharp jolt through their bodies, leaving their hearts pounding.
The Shift Points were dangerous to use.
Right now, they had been lucky.
Their ship had fallen into another world’s Blood Sea in a straight position.
In the worst-case scenarios, the ship might appear within the Blood Sea, submerged.
It would’ve been an instant annihilation.
“Where is the Tartarus?” Percival asked, after he gathered his bearings. “I don’t see anything. Did we arrive in the wrong place?”
“Artemis’ Blessing says it’s near,” Olivia answered.
The blessing allowed them to find a path to their destination.